I love the fall. The air smells crisp with change. The nascent cold tickles my Floridian skin and awakens my brain. And then winter comes and snow gathers on the narrow branches to escape the depurifying dirt of the city ground. Here is Prospect Park colored red, orange and yellow with change, with time, and still with novelty.
Prospect Park from my fire escape
Cherice Anne Smithers was born on October 25, 1985. And I'm so grateful for it. Happy birthday Cherice. You are beautiful.
The first place Casey took us in Costa Rica was Vocan Poaz. Seems like such a long time ago, that lush land, that green life. At least I live across the street from Prospect Park. At least.
As in, I was in heaven because there we so many lizards in Cahuita. Once I dreamt as child I was catching anoles twice the size of the anoles I caught at home in Florida. They were big, masculine, beefy lizards. Anyone who says lizards don't have personality, couldn't be more wrong. Look into their eyes. A little lizard soul lies there. Cahuita was a dream.
The Holy Grail of Lizards
I found this video while doing some research for an article I'm writing about Louisiana's marshes and Hurricane Katrina. I thought it made destruction almost look graceful.
The town of Santa Elena is a short bus ride to Monteverde, which isn't as much a town as it is a dirt road. Quakers established Monteverde in the 1950s to escape the United States and its proclivity for violence and war. Now, fifty years later the cloud forest of Monteverde attracts more people a year than any other spot in Costa Rica.
This cat was the guardian of the kitchen at Pension Santa Elena, a busy hostel where English dominates and guided nature tours are the new black. I didn't fall for their trickery, and saw plenty of animals, including the elusive Quetzal.
Arenal is the most active volcano in Costa Rica. It can erupt up to 20 times a day but sometimes it won't erupt for days. Arenal is a perfect example of the the luck we had in Costa Rica, almost missing buses, but not, having full days of sun on the beach in the raining season, finding free hot springs and streams when others paid 70 dollars, and hearing and seeing Arenal erupt four times when we were there. Usually an eruption consisted of a poof of smoke and a loud rumbling sound. But once I saw a little flash of red at the top. Molten rock is a magical thing.
